3 Lessons You Can Steal from This Fancy-Pants Butler’s Pantry

Most of us will never have a butler’s pantry, let alone a kitchen that is half as nice (or organized) as this one. Not only is this fancy-pants Minnesota butler’s pantry fun to look at, but it also has some smart ideas that are worth stealing for your own, normal-person kitchen.

Paint your kitchen with a super-saturated color.

Instead of trying to make the 90-square-foot space look bigger with white or light paint, architect Todd Hansen went with a rich color — Huntington Green by Benjamin Moore — to embrace the room’s size and make it feel more intense. He helped the cabinets stand out from the walls by painting the tongue-and-groove board with At Sea, also by Benjamin Moore.

Put shelves everywhere!

Look at this photo above. Now look to the left. See that narrow shelf above the counter but below the upper cabinets? It’s the perfect place to display knickknacks and smaller serving pieces. It adds extra storage without getting in the way of anything that may be on the counter. Ingenious!

Get yourself a ladder.

Just like you’re probably not going to have a butler’s pantry anytime soon, I’m guessing a rolling ladder (on 70 feet of tracking) is a lofty goal as well (at least it is for me!). But you should have a ladder. You’d be amazed at how many times I’ve watched my friends teeter on dining chairs to try to get their food processor from the top shelf. Please, no matter the size of your kitchen, for the love of safety and efficiency, get a real step stool or small ladder!

Pantries to Pin is a new column on our site! While many of us could only ever dream of having a pantry this nice (or at all!), the column is meant to give you inspiration and fodder for your Pinterest board. You might even get some ideas to steal for your own kitchen.